


A new purpose

by A_box_of_chocolates



Category: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-04-21 08:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22053826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_box_of_chocolates/pseuds/A_box_of_chocolates
Summary: Thomas's life in the brugh and how he came to be a servant of the Raven King.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 7





	A new purpose

Sometimes, Thomas wondered whether he was turning into a tree, his skin into bark, his legs into roots that spread into the ground. It certainly felt that way in the rare lulls when he was standing alone in the main room of the brugh, feeling so awfully dull, wearied out by the constant dancing, empty smiles and shallow affections that he felt himself to be weighed down, like an immoveable object, like a tree unable to uprooted itself from where it dreaded to stay. But the feelings never stayed for long and disappeared the moment a fairy looked at him and called him into the dance again. Then Thomas would come into the midst of dancing bodies and move with them until he was too exhausted to continue. The dancing came natural to him for he was a strong and graceful young man, the smiling and exhilaration would inevitably come during that.

Among his dance partners, there were some noticeable ladies. There was one lady with her hair long and dark like weed at the bottom of the pond. Her hands, when he touched them, were cold and slippery and when she smiled, she showed teeth similar to that of a fish. There was a lady who looked so pale and thin that she looked like she could be blown into air by one strong wind. When Thomas held her hands, they felt so immaterial in his hands that he sometimes felt like he was holding nothing at all. There was another lady who was as beautiful as dawn’s sweet light. She was very proud of her beauty and made sure anybody who came across her know it. When Thomas was at the transition between a child and a man, he used to follow her around like a puppy whenever she went into the room. 

And of course, of all the ladies of the court with their fine features and their grandiose titles and powers, there was one that reigned supreme. The Queen with her hair as soft as gossamer. The Queen with her eyes as bright as starlight and features as fresh as the grass of spring. Sometimes, Thomas rather thought he loved her. Other times, however, he rather thought he would love nothing more than to stab his blade into her cruel, cold heart. As to the Queen, she loved nothing more than to proclaim that she loved him and adored him more than any other. He believed it…for now.

Time took away memories. Much of what Thomas could recall about his childhood in England was so hazy that he doubted its accuracy. However, he could still remember that he was a somewhat very petulant and mischievous child who did not always listen to the sound advices of those more experienced than him. He had gone by himself a little too deep into the forest and had stayed there when the sky had darkened and the wind had become colder. When the sun had gone down, he was hungry and tired. A lady of the fairy court chanced to come across him, found him a handsome and well-mannered child so she offered to bring him bread and cheese if he followed her. If only he had had the wisdom to run away. Instead, he followed walked after her into a part of forest where the trees loomed threateningly above his head.

The fairies were fond of him so was inclined to treat him well. For a while, charmed by their adoration and magic, Thomas enjoyed his stay so much that he almost forgot his life back home.

One morning, while Thomas was practicing fencing alone, there was suddenly much excitement in the brugh. Curious, Thomas stopped his morning routine and approached a group to ask. Apparently, a beast had appeared at the border of the Queen’s land and ate one fairy of no consequence. A fairy had just come into the brugh and informed them of this unfortunate but interesting circumstance.

When the Queen summoned everybody in the brugh into the main hall, everyone was in great anticipation for what she would say. They expected some entertainments to come and got them. The Queen said that any knight that defeated the beast would reap great rewards and come into great fortunes. She spoke it with solemnity but Thomas knew that she was like her courtiers: she did not care for the unfortunate fairy that got eaten or others that might also face the same fate but was expecting to be amused. The courtiers cheered her decision.

When the Queen asked for volunteers, Thomas surprised himself when he spoke out loud that he would be glad to fight for her honour and if necessary, to lay down his life for her. Everyone cheered and wished him good fortune. Thomas could not help imagining that they, too, would be amused if he ever came back a mangled corpse or laid down among the desolate landscape as white bones.

Thomas hid his weapons carefully underneath his clothes when he came to the beast. He only brought a cow with him. The beast eyed him and the cow hungrily. Before the beast could make an attempt on his life, Thomas said with as much conviction as he could muster that he was kidnapped by some wicked fairies living near here and was forced to do menial labour for them days and nights without rest. He wished to take revenge on them so had brought a cow here, hoping that the beast would help him do so. The beast would find that there was much to eat in those fairies’ house. 

The beast called him a fool and ate the cow without promising anything. It then cornered Thomas and threatened to eat him, too. However, because it was too full from the cow, it trapped him among the rocks and let him there while it slept off the meal for it truly believed he was only a household servant instead of a knight. While it was sleeping, Thomas used a spell he had learnt among the fairies to let him escape from the stone prison, took out the knife he hid inside his body and slain the beast.

When the beast’s corpse was brought to the court, the Queen looked noticeably pleased. She gave him a smile before she touched the skin of the beast, wondering out loud what she should do with this. It would make a nice cape, one said. No, it would smell awfully, the Queen answered. A torrent of suggestions came forward.

“Thomas, do tell us about how you have defeated the beast.”

Thomas had learnt enough about the court to know how to keep the interest of fairies on himself. What he told them kept roughly to what he had actually done but he embellished on it and made a few lies to make the story more exciting and himself more heroic.

Once he was done, the Queen looked at him with satisfaction and asked him benevolently,

“Then what would you like to be rewarded with, my dear brave Thomas?” The words were gentle but the way she said “my dear brave Thomas” put doubts into Thomas’s heart. He suspected that she might want to keep him to show him off as her brave human knight but desperate hopes overweighed his doubts.

Thomas answered her,

“My gracious queen, for years, I have been treated with the greatest kindness by you and your companions and have the pleasure of your company. I am indebted to you for that. However, I miss my family dearly and hope that with your kind permission, I might be able to return to them and live among them again until old age.”

The court was dead quiet when Thomas had finished. Everyone could feel that the Queen was greatly displeased. However, she could not reject him outright because she had made a statement publicly. The Queen looked at Thomas thoughtfully before saying, 

“My dear friend, I will be sorry to part from you. I want you to let you know that you will be greatly esteemed in my court and held in the highest regard if you stay in my brugh but that might not be the same if you return to your family. I don’t think that they would know enough to welcome such a noble knight like yourself!”

That was what Thomas was afraid. He could not be sure that his family still remembered and loved him. To all of them, he must have been no more than dead and he wondered whether he would have a spot in that world as a dead man coming back alive.

“Still, I miss them dearly and would like to be returned to them.”

“I would let you go back to them and live with them until old age, then.” She looked so smug when she said this that it made Thomas wary. “However, if a member of your family turns out to be unwelcoming and, for example, tells you to go away, you will go back to my brugh and be welcomed here.”

Thomas bowed and expressed his immense gratitude toward her even when he was weighed with worries and fears. She could not let him go that simply.

A few days later, Thomas left for his old house. When he neared his house, he saw a young man in an expensive outfit sitting on his horse. Thomas’s and his features were similar enough that Thomas guessed immediately and correctly that this man was his brother. He ran toward his brother, thinking of how to introduce himself and convince the man that he was indeed his long lost brother.

However, when his brother turned to him, his gaze immediately turned disdainful when he took in the wild figure in ragged clothes running toward him. “Go away, scoundrel. Your foul presence is unwanted.” That was the first thing that his brother had said to him after years of long separation. Thomas almost fell down laughing hysterically and bitterly as he thought about what the Queen had said. He was taken immediately to the brugh.

A while later, Thomas found out that the Queen had sent some servants in outfits similar to his to disturb his family. His brother, on seeing Thomas, had thought he was one of them and wanted him as far away as possible. Thomas had known since the Queen agreed that it could not be that simple but he was a young man filled with hopes so was inclined to be blind against his better judgment. The deception did not come unexpected but it had struck him hard.

The court was fond of him. There were others who were better swordsmen than him for at that time, he was too young and inexperienced. There were others who were more charming and handsome than him. There were also far better dancers and far cleverer conversationalists than him. However, there were not many people who were good knights, handsome, charming, clever and good dancers at the same time so he was well-liked by the people of the court.

After his defeat of the beast, he was invited to every dance and fairy women vied to be his partners. The Queen was regularly his partner and when she was not, she enjoyed seeing her knight being so popular at court. However, Thomas could not stand being the object of affections for long and would occasionally go and fight when she told him or hinted for him to do so. He disliked seeing the satisfied glow in her eyes when he went back and presented to her what he had done. Sometimes, he contemplated on failing so that he could disappoint and make a fool of her but because the situations he got into were regularly life-or-death, he did not have the chance.  
Thomas thought that one day, he would find a way to get back to his family one more but he kept putting that off. His brother’s harsh words and the disdainful look in his eyes haunted Thomas’s mind whenever he thought about going back home. He imagined that it was possible his family had buried him in their mind and that his return might be unpleasant to them. Thomas was well-treated here. However, if he went back, what he might be facing might be nothing but dislike from his family.

In the brugh, what the Queen said or planned travelled very quickly from mouth to mouth. Thomas was among a group of fairies who were hearing the news from a man who had heard it from the Queen’s maid.

“You have heard about that human boy called Starling by King Auberon and how he had destroyed the king who intended to kill him?”

Everybody said yes. The prophecy of the now deceased king had spread through many parts of Faerie. Everyone in the court, especially the Queen, was all amused to see what had come of the king. She had such an intense dislike toward that king because of some slights done a few centuries ago that she had thrown a party the day news of his demise reached the castle.

“King Auberon has given the boy his own kingdom to rule.” The fairy paused a little so that the group listening to him could show their surprise and reactions. Once they were done, he continued,

“The Queen was delighted to hear the news of his ascent. She invited the boy to our brugh when the moon was full and he gladly accepted her invitation.”

Their group was delighted. They had wondered about that human boy for a long time and wished to see for themselves how powerful the boy was.

“I heard from someone that at the boy’s words, the earth came up like jaws and gnawed on the king’s clan and that blood was spattered all over the brugh once the boy had taken his revenge. Blacks birds then came down and pecked at the dead bodies until only white bones were left.”

Thomas did not pay much attention to what the fairies were saying because their words were mostly hearsays and conjectures. He was thinking about the human boy who was so great at magic that his power was said to far exceed that of many great lords of Faerie. A human just like himself. A human who had somehow become a king of fairies instead of being subjected to their whims and caprices like Thomas was.

When the day of the boy’s arrival came, Thomas could not control his impatience. He kept looking for signs that the boy had come. When the boy did come, he came with his entourage, fairies in ragged black clothes and black birds flying in the sky. He was a handsome boy and looked very similar to his fairies because he was dressed in the same clothes as them but was very human in the fact that his skin was not as flawlessly pale as that of the fairies surrounding him. Thomas was standing behind the Queen as the Queen and the boy greeted each other. The boy looked at him and they both recognized each other in that instance as the only human in their respective places. They did not talk.

When the dance started, even while Thomas was dancing and talking, he tried to look at the boy as discreetly as possible. Many ladies wanted to dance with a powerful king such as the boy so the boy did not have much chance of resting. He kept dancing and even though he was not a naturally graceful dancer like Thomas was, he moved tolerably well. As Thomas kept on observing, he noticed some noticeable traits of the boy. He was polite but awfully proud. He was solemn but was obliging enough that the fairies found him pleasant. He was very quiet but he listened with enough attentiveness that the Queen, who thought her words and opinions to be the best, found him likeable. Thomas wanted to talk with the boy. 

At one point, he got into a group of fairies surrounding the boy. The boy told their group how his family was murdered in cold blood by an enemy named Hubert de Cotentin and how he was left to die by that enemy’s men before he was saved by the fairies. The fairies could not help exclaiming in anger at Hubert and said that the boy must have been planning to destroy that enemy. The boy agreed and said that he intended to claim retributions for all the wrongs that had been done to him and his family.

Next day, the Queen decided to go hunting. They were all on their horses with the dogs at their sides. The Queen pointed him out as her knight and spoke about how he had used his strength and cleverness to defeat vicious enemies. She was showing him off so there were many exaggerations in her tales. Thomas did not say much besides kept repeating that he believed she hold his skills in too high a regard. To this, she answered that there was no need for him to be so humble. The boy listened very quietly to all the Queen’s boasts and when she was done, he also introduced a fairy knight of his own.

Later on, they found a very beautiful deer and chased after it. The deer was at some distance away. Thomas drew out one arrow and the knight on the boy’s side also drew out his. The arrow of the other knight was let loose first and missed. Thomas’s arrow came soon after and injured the deer on the back. The deer took another few steps before dropping down from the pain.

When the Queen knew that Thomas was the one who had shot the deer down, she looked incredibly satisfied. The boy showed nothing on his face besides his usual solemnity even when his fairy knight was putting on an injured but haughty air. The hunt continued as before.

Next morning, when Thomas was out alone, taking a walk in the forest, he came across the boy with his ravens surrounding him on nearby branches. Despite not being particularly good at magic, he knew enough about it to know that the boy was asking the sky some questions. He was about to turn around to leave quietly when the boy noticed him. Thomas changed his intentions and approached the boy.

Thomas spoke extremely politely to the boy, congratulating him on his success and complimenting him. The boy was quiet the whole time, which slightly discomfited Thomas. They took to walking together. After running out of polite topics to speak, Thomas also became quiet. While he was thinking of something to break the silence (for some reasons, it was harder for him to put on a constantly obliging façade in front of this human boy), the boy suddenly spoke for the first time,

“Where are you from, Thomas?”

“Dundale, sire.” The boy did not show whether he knew that place or not. “My family was originally from Donvil.”

“How much do you still remember about England?”

“Some I remember very well. Some I remember not at all. Some I only have the haziest recollections.”

The boy asked more questions and all of them were concerned with England in some manners. Interestingly, the boy also asked very specific questions about who ruled England, the language people used in England, the important towns and strongholds of England. Thomas answered as best as he could. When he started asking about how Christians conducted their warfare, Thomas could not help asking,

“Sire, are you planning on invading England?” He did not mean it as a serious question so the boy’s answer came as a surprise to him.

“Yes, I am. The king of England failed to give justice to my family. I want recompense for the injustice that was unmercifully done to us.” Thomas looked at the boy’s face to see whether the boy meant it. His face was perfectly serious. His eyes gleamed with a determination that bordered on stubbornness. He was so young, so proud, so believing in himself and his power. Thomas envied him for his certainty and power.

“Englishmen were not like fairies so you would find ruling them very different from ruling the kingdom you already have now.”

“I know. So that is why I would have you as my servant.” The boy stated it matter-of-factly but Thomas was very surprised.

“You could not mean that.” Thomas exclaimed. But there was that determined glint in the boy’s eyes. He meant every word he said.

“You are a fine knight of great prowess and cleverness.”

“I am afraid that the Queen purposely exaggerated my abilities and that I am actually…”

“I have asked more reliable personages about your achievements, Thomas. You also know French…”

“Barely!”

“…and you also know about the customs of Englishmen.” The boy continued on undeterred.

“I have forgotten most of them! Besides, The Queen wouldn’t want me to leave her side.”

“I hardly care about what she wants. Do you want to serve me or not?”

Did he? Thomas wondered. Thomas observed the boy while he thought. The boy was so young that it was easy to dismiss him as too childish but standing before him in the forest, the boy seemed so powerful, so sure of himself, so purposeful and determined. Thomas had no doubt that this boy, unlike other fairy lords, would be more methodical and diligent in his approach to conquering a nation and ruling it. Since his forced return to Faerie, Thomas was always so unsure and doubtful but there was something in the way the boy spoke and how he carried himself that spread some of his certainty to Thomas, too. Then he thought distastefully about the Queen and her entourage and how he sometimes felt like he could barely stay in her court another day. Maybe serving this human king would prove a better future for him than letting himself waste away in the Queen’s brugh.

“Yes. I will serve you.”


End file.
